Is your energy bill outrageously high? Are you taking things to the extreme and not turning your air conditioning on when it’s 102°F outside so you can save a few pennies? WiFi thermostats allow you to be comfortable in your home and let you conserve energy while you’re away at work.

What Is the Average Residential Monthly Electric Bill?

In 2015, the average monthly home electric bill was $114.03. If you purchase a WiFi thermostat that saves about 20% of your energy, your monthly bill will drop to about $91.22/month. That’s a savings of around $274 a year.

So, it’s easy to do the math and see that using a smart thermostat pays for itself in just one year’s use. I know $274 doesn’t sound like a ton of money, but over the course of a few years, you’ve saved $1,000. That’s $1,000 you didn’t expect to have, and you can use it on something fun instead of your bills.

Why Use A Smart Thermostat?

Did you know 44% of your energy bill is from your heating and air conditioning?1 And most of that energy is wasted because your home is empty half the day. WiFi thermostats learn your schedule, so temperatures are adjusted throughout your home during the day to conserve energy when you aren’t home.

Also, many cities across the country offer rebates for installing a smart thermostat so that can help offset the initial upfront cost to purchase the equipment, not to mention all the additional money you’ll save in the long run. Check with your local energy or utility company to find out if you qualify.

Find out which one of these cool temperature controlling gadgets will work best for your home in our Best WiFi Thermostat Reviews.

Nest Learning Thermostat Review

Unlike other smart thermostats, the Nest 3rd generation asks you to turn the temperature up and down as you wish and it does the rest. Nest boasts about its ability to continuously learn about your heating and cooling habits. After a week or two of use, the Nest thermostat will remember your habits and begin to make temperature adjustments automatically. You can also make changes from the Nest app, so if you forget to make a change before you leave home, you can adjust it on the go.

The Nest Thermostat E is available for and has a cool new look with a frosted display to help it blend in to any background. However, it does not have a high-res color display or the ability to show you the time, temperature or weather from a distance.

They also have a lower priced Nest E which comes in white but with less features (no ability to show outside temperature and weather and not as compatible with all systems).

Pros

Cons

Claims to lower your energy bills up to 20%

Leaf symbol shows when you are conserving energy

Compatible with Google Home, Amazon Alexa and IFTTT

Ability to receive energy usage reports

Programs itself based on your behavior

Farsight features makes the thermostat light up when you enter the room to display the temperature or time

Ecobee Review

The ecobee4 has a motion sensor to detect when you’re home and know when to keep a room at a certain temperature. You can program your schedule into the thermostat, so you conserve energy when you aren’t home.

The ecobee4 includes a remote sensor to be placed in another room to help keep the temperature even throughout the house. You can purchase additional remote sensors for $79 for a two-pack.

Pros

Cons

Reads temperatures in multiple rooms using remote sensors

Claims to save an average of 23% on energy bills annually

Built-in Amazon Alexa Voice service

Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT and more

Monitor temperature controls via your smartphone, tablet or computer

Live weather report

Energy Star certified

You drag the temperature up and down, so changing it by just a degree or two can be challenging

Some users complain that the speaker doesn’t detect voices from across the room

Not compatible with Google Home

Price and Tech Specs

First Alert Onelink Review

The First Alert Onelink WiFi thermostat isn’t as pleasing to the eye as some of its competitors at first glance, but you can turn the display screen into a digital picture frame. It features a touchscreen to adjust the temperature and program your schedule.

You even have the ability to send text messages to the thermostat, although we’re not sure why you’d need or want to. Maybe you can tell us in the comments below.

Pros

Cons

Program your schedule

Compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa

Access your energy usage for past 7 days

Customizable wallpaper background

Access with iOS and Android app

Turn the thermostat into a digital picture frame

Displays outdoor weather forecast

Send texts to the thermostat

Not as “modern looking” as the other WiFi thermostats

Not as much information available

Does not learn your schedule as others do

Price and Tech Specs

Honeywell Lyric T5 Review

The Honeywell Lyric T5 WiFi thermostat is pleasing to the eye, but unfortunately, many consumers have found lots of frustration with it. Users complain of geofencing issues (more on geofencing below) and major app issues.

The Lyric claims to have unique features like Fine Tune to adjust your home’s humidity level, but the execution isn’t living up to the marketing just yet. Perhaps Honeywell will update the device and software, but for now, we’d recommend another thermostat.

Price and Tech Specs

Hive Smart Thermostat

The Hive Smart Thermostat works like the other smart heating and cooling systems, but is compatible with the Hive family of products including smart light bulbs, home alarm system and more. You can set up to six daily schedules, create actions (such as “when it’s dark outside, make the house 77 degrees), use quick heat or cool mode, use geolocation to automatically adjust when you are away and more. The only downside is this is only compatible with other Hive products and requires a smart hub to connect to the network.

Pros

Cons

Works with Google Home and Alexa

Automatically adjusts temperature via geofencing

Mobile App to change settings from afar

Good Amazon ratings and ranks

Cannot access on the web

Doesn’t auto learn your habits like Nest

Must use Hive hub and ecosystem of products

No auto sensor for control screen to light up

Price and Tech Specs

What Is Geofencing?

Geofencing is a feature that uses GPS from your smartphone to define geographical boundaries. When you’re heading home, and you reach your pre-set geofence (say, 10 miles away), your settings will adjust to what you want them to be once you arrive home. The same occurs when you exit the boundaries (the settings will go to a more energy-efficient mode).

Learn more about Lyric’s Geofencing feature to understand how to use it.

Other Ways To Automate Your Home

Why stop at just saving money with your energy bill? Using a smart home hub you can automate other aspects of your home and make sure you’re optimizing energy usage. Another simple way to reduce your energy bill is to use efficient lighting systems using smart light bulbs.

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Disclaimer: This website contains reviews, opinions and information regarding products and services manufactured or provided by third parties. We are not responsible in any way for such products and services, and nothing contained here should be construed as a guarantee of the functionality, utility, safety or reliability of any product or services reviewed or discussed. Please follow the directions provided by the manufacturer or service provider when using any product or service reviewed or discussed on this website.

Kimberly received her Bachelor of Arts in multimedia journalism from Simpson College. Her natural curiosity helps her research as she seeks the truth when learning about, comparing and personally testing products and services.

Kimberly has been writing about security and safety since 2013, covering subjects such as home security and automation, identity theft protection, home warranties, medical alert systems and more. In 2018, she had her first child, and that opened up a whole new avenue of security experience with baby gear. She wanted to purchase the safest items for her family.

Security is a passion of hers, and she knows it isn’t a one size fits all category. With every piece she writes, her goal is to help our readers find the best fit for their unique needs.

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SecularHumanist199

We moved into a new house in September and installed an Ecobee 3 precisely because of the remote sensor. We had a 3rd gen Nest in our last house and were happy with it, but it had a couple of issues. First, we couldn’t use the auto detect feature because it was located in a dining room that we rarely went into. Second, because it was in that room, the temperature had to be adjusted higher or lower to get the rest of the house to a comfortable temperature. While the learning feature seemed nice, there wasn’t enough variation in our daily routine for it to really make that much of a difference.

We bought an Ecobee3 for the new house and couldn’t be happier with it. The thermostat in this house was also installed in the dining room, but the dining room was more open so the temperature there is more reflective of the rest of the house. However, it still only gets the temperature downstairs to a comfortable level. We put the remote sensor in our master bedroom upstairs and it has made a huge difference. Now, we set the thermostat to use only the temperature in our bedroom when we are getting up in the morning or getting ready for bed at night. That way we are always comfortable at those times, instead of having to fiddle with the thermostat, like we had to with the nest. If we add more sensors, and you can have up to 32 of them, we can set it to use autodetect to base the temperature on the rooms that are or have recently been occupied. This is a real benefit that no other thermostat that I am aware of can do.

We don’t miss the auto adjustment of the schedule at all. We just set up several “comfort settings” for the Ecobee and put in a schedule that is consistent with our work and sleep schedule and there is no need to change it. Overall, we have found that the benefits of having remote sensors far outweighs any of the benefits of the Nest’s learning ability.

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November 11, 2016 12:49 pm

Dan Prairie

I have been installing ecobee 3 units for a year now and have done 40+ units. Ecobee offers the best combination of features and performance well in excess of the Nest unit. Customer service is excellent contrary to above rating. Ecobee offers a commercial line also which attests to the superior engineering they bring to the table. Ecobee is partnered with Tendril Inc for the back end and statistics and they are Apple HomeKit which offers the highest level of security in the smart home market. Google is a good browser, period.

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July 9, 2016 12:42 pm

Jim Brown

I have a second generation nest and love the ability to control the temperature of my home from my phone but I must say, it’s not the smartest at predicting our habits and will randomly adjust the temp all over the place for no apparent reason. I feel like it hasn’t saved us that much money but it does look cool and love the idea of having a digital thermostat.